Valve for steam-engines



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1. D. W. BRANCH.

. VALVE FOR STEAM ENGINES.

No. 563,648. Patented July 7, 1896.

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28heets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

1). W. BRANCH. VALVE FOR STEAM ENGINES.

No. 563,648. Patented July 7, 1896.

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' are done away with, and the 'ports formed in UNITED STATES PATENT DANIEL VF. BRANCH, OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.

VALVE FGR STEAM-ENGiNES.

SPECIFICATION forming part oi Letters Patent No. 563,648, dated July 7, 1896.

Serial No. 561,254, (No modelJ To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL W. Benson, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Montgomery, in the county of Montgomery and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valves for Steam-Engines; andl do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in steam-engines, whereby the usual long ports the cylinder-heads, whereby they can bemade very much shorter, thus causing greater efficiency in use anda saving in fuel.

The invention consists, essentially, in a cylinder having a port and a valve-box at each end, a slide-valve located in said boxes, and means for actuating the same for alternately supplying steam to the cylinder and exhausting it therefrom.

It also consists in forming the cylinderheads with an auxiliary exhaust-port, and the slide-valve with an auxiliary valve mov ing therewith, whereby the cylinder can be quickly exhausted,as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a steam-engine cylinder with my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View on the line 5003, Fig, 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the walking-shaft.

In the said drawings, the reference-numeral 1 designates a steam-cylinder, and 2 the heads thereof. These heads are formed with a rectangular port 3, each of which alternately serves as a supply and an exhaust port. Bolted to the cylinder-heads are valve-boxes i, provided with inlet-pipes 5, connected with a steam-supply pipe 6, connected with a steanrgenerator, and at the opposite sides the valves are provided with outlet-pipes 6, which carry the exhaust-steam to any point desired. Located in each of these valveboxes is a slide-valve 7, consisting of a box open at one side and one end, and provided with two bridges 8.

Secured to these valves are valve-stems 9', which are connected at their outer ends with an oscillating lever or walking-shaft 10, one end of which is connected with an eccentric (not shown) on the driving-shaft or some other moving part of the machine, so that the lever or walkingshaft is made to oscillate or reciprocate up and down, so as to alternately raise and lower the valves. The cylinder-heads, above said ports, are formed with auxiliary exhaustports 12, which are opened and closed alternately by means of auxiliary valves 13, secured to the valve-bridges and moving therewith.

The operation is as follows: In the position shown in Fig. 1 the piston is on its forward stroke, the port at the right of the cylinder being open or in communication with the valve-chest, so that steam will enter the cylinder therethrough, the auxiliary exhaustvalve at this end being closed and the auxiliary valve at the otherend being open. The port at this, or the left, end of the cylinder is in alinement with the open side of the valve, through which and the auxiliary valve steam in the cylinder exhausts through the open end of the valve into the exhaust-pipe. \Vhen the piston reaches the end of its stroke, the valves will be reversed by the walkingbeam, the one to the left being raised, opening communication between the steam or valve box and the port in the end of the cylinder, and allowing the steam to enter the cylinder through said port. At the same time the auxiliary port will be closed, and the auxiliary exhaust-portat the opposite end of the cylinder will be opened, and the main port will also be placed in communication with the exhaust-opening in the slide-valve.

The invention can be used with stationary, locomotive, and marine boilers, and it can also be attached to ordinary steam-enginc cylinders by filling up the long ports therein with Babbitt metal, forming the ports in the heads of the cylinders,an d securing the valveboxes and connections thereto.

It will be seen that the length of the ports in the cylinder-heads is only that of the thickness of the same, thus etfcctinga decided advantage over the ordinary long ports.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim isvalves having openings in one side and end. the auxiliary valve carried thereby, and means for actuating said valves; substantially x 5 as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereunto aflixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

DANIEL W. BRANCH. lVitnesses:

SIMON WEIL, N. R. WILHELM. 

